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The Big Picture of Business: Fine Wine, Aged Cheese and Valuable Antiques. Professionals Who Go the Distance.

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A professional’s career and their collected Body of Work encompass time, energy, resources, perseverance and lots of commitment in order to produce. This holds true for any company, institution and for any person.

There are three key ingredients in developing deep leadership roots. Long-term success for the company and a healthy career for the individual are attributable to:

  1. The manner in which an organization or professional lives and conducts business on a daily basis. I symbolize this with the analogy Fine Wine.
  2. The evolution, education, enrichment, professional development, training and life experiences that one amasses. This continuum is symbolized by the analogy Aged Cheese.
  3. What of value is really accomplished and left behind. This shows that the business or person actually existed and contributed meaningfully to society, rather than just filling time and space on this earth. This is symbolized by the analogy Valuable Antiques.

Wine.

Just because it is a bottled alcoholic beverage doesn’t mean that it contains great wine. In the marketplace, there exist large quantities of fair wine, some bad wine and some good wine. There’s very little great wine.

Defining what is ‘good’ is a matter of judgment, perspective and prejudice. When one assigns the term ‘great,’ then the wine (used as an analogy for one’s daily process of living and working) takes on rare proportions.

The general public is not exposed to the wine vineyard process and, thus, is not familiar with the characteristics of that special reserve:

  • A good crop of grapes from which to draw.
  • Skilled processes in picking and processing the grapes.
  • Knowledge in the making of wine.
  • Care for the industry, the product and the process (a defined Vision).
  • Skilled technicians, who transfer the intent of the wine maker into the bottle.
  • Packaging, distribution and marketing of the product.
  • Reputation of the winery, steadily built and carefully preserved.
  • An informed clientele, with the ability to appreciate and enjoy the wine.
  • The right settings in which to showcase the product.
  • A body of pleasurable and memorable experiences from which customers will build brand loyalty.
  • A reinforced manufacturing process that assures consistency in all areas.
  • Stated, refined strategies for the winery to remain in business, producing a quality product and maintaining clientele appreciation.

Cheese.

We all eat and enjoy cheese, in some form. If it’s a brand or flavor we recognize, we think it’s good. When cheese is part of a favorite recipe, then it’s an essential ingredient, though we might not eat it by itself.

The process of creating and curing the cheese (used as an analogy for the process of sharpening and amassing life and professional skills) is both an art and a science.

When it comes to cheese, people generally uphold these constants:

  • Cheese is made from milk.
  • It is manufactured in various places, utilizing various processes.
  • Some sources of cheese making (Switzerland, Wisconsin) are acknowledged for their expertise.
  • Cheese is wrapped and packaged in various forms: sliced, chunks, rounds, barrels.
  • It comes from packages that are neatly wrapped and arranged for eye appeal in a clean, well-lit and suitably refrigerated dairy case.
  • The flavor of cheese we buy depends upon the use we have for it… be it as an appetizer, as an ingredient in an ensemble dish, as a salad enhancer or just to munch on.
  • Most often, we mix the cheese with something else.
  • Various styles of cheese are often served at a time, or mixed into recipes.
  • If it tastes good, we consume it again. If not, we will not likely give that flavor or brand another try.
  • If guests like it, we will serve it again. If not, their preferences will influence ours, and, thus, the cheese will not reappear.
  • If it is really good, we refer it to others… sometimes giving it as a gift.
  • The better it appears to be (marketing, wrapping, price, place of purchase) affects our viewpoint on its quality.
  • It is often served with wine, sometimes on antique trays or dishes.

Antiques.

Antiques are rare, interesting, fanciful and out of the ordinary. They tend to stimulate affection, admiration and appreciation. They are generally thought of as joyful, artistic and quality-reflecting possessions which are in rare supply.

Everyone owns and buys possessions, including clothing, equipment, furniture and household items. A small percentage of the public views unique versions of these same items as antiques, creating a preferred place for them in their lives.

Antiques are perceived in different manners. The substance of antiques (used as an analogy for what one does-accomplishes with his-her life and organization) is that of the creator, not the seller or the collector.

Among the truisms of antiques are:

  • Their quality and workmanship is set by the creator, with inspiration from diverse sources.
  • Their market value is set by the seller, who often is an appreciator or, at the least, has a profit motive.
  • Their purchase price is set by the buyer, who also believes that getting a bargain enhances the value of the antique.
  • The collector appreciates collectibles as a whole and their own specialties in particular. The collector appreciates those who appreciate.
  • As one attaches value to the unique, one finds value in other things around them. Appreciation for value becomes a quality of life ingredient.
  • Definitions of antiques vary from collector to collector, depending upon interest. To one, it may be a rare painting. To another, it is custom-made furniture. To still another, it may be a Roy Rogers wristwatch, one of Elvis Presley’s scarves or a Partridge Family lunchbox.
  • Seeking out new and unique places to find antiques is great fun, and one seeks to include friends in the quest.
  • The hunt is worth as much or more than the actual find.
  • As friends take up sub-specialties in collecting and preserving, we support their passions and interests.
  • Once one gets acclimated toward antiques, one does not ‘go back.’ As an interest, it becomes a ‘way of life.’
  • The nature of value continually changes and evolves.

Nourishing a Body of Work (Antique).

No company or individual sets out to create an antique (lifelong Body of Work). It just works out that way, depending upon such factors as:

  • The crafting artist, as a person and a professional.
  • The arsenal of tools which the creator has at hand.
  • Combinations of experiences, training and assimilation which were gleaned by the artist.
  • Unexpected twists, turns and situations which the craftor saw and seized upon.
  • Vision for the project, from concept through execution.
  • Sets of standards, with mediocrity not a rung on the ladder.
  • An innate sense of perspective, with the reality that no such thing as perfection exists.
  • Marketplace sensitive considered in the overall project, but not pandored to.
  • Applications for the concept and durability of the product for the long-run.

The phenomena of people liking and admiring antiques, years after their creation, is like a successful wine and cheese party. But, this isn’t why the wine and cheese were made. There are many forces and outside influences who set standards for quality. Normally, it’s the marketplace. Who should be the arbitrator and benchmark? You should. Your company will. Your family must.

7 Plateaus of Professionalism:

  1. Learning and Growing. Develop resources, skills and talents.
  2. Early Accomplishments. Learn what works and why. Incorporate your own successes into the organization’s portfolio of achievements.
  3. Observe Lack of Professionalism in Others. Commit to sets of standards as to role, job, responsibilities, relationships. Take stands against mediocrity, sloppiness, poor work and low quality. Learn about the culture and mission of organizations.
  4. Commitment to Career. Learn what constitutes excellence, and pursue it for the long-term. Enjoy well earned successes, sharing professional techniques with others.
  5. Seasoning. Refining career with several levels of achievement, honors, recognition. Learn about planning, tactics, organizational development, systems improvement. Active decision maker, able to take risks.
  6. Mentor-Leader-Advocate-Motivator. Finely develop skills in every aspect of the organization, beyond the scope of professional training. Amplify upon philosophies of others. Mentoring, creating and leading have become the primary emphasis for your career.
  7. Beyond the Level of Professional. Never stop paying dues, learning and growing professionally. Develop and share own philosophies. Long-term track record, unlike anything accomplished by any other individual… all contributing toward organizational philosophy, purpose, vision, quality of life, ethics, long-term growth.

Criteria for Assessing and Nurturing Professionalism.

Fine Wine
Core Values: Ethics. Professionalism, Quality.
Work with Colleagues: People Skills, Executive-Leadership Abilities, Collaborative Team Experience, References.

Aged Cheese
Expertise: Talents, Skills, Education and Training, Resume, Industries Served.
Business: Marketplace Understanding, Business Savvy.

Valuable Antiques
Track Record: Experience, Accomplishments, Case Studies, Professional Reputation.
Body of Knowledge: Original Ideas, Concepts, Self-Created Expertise.
Vision: Uniqueness, Creativity, Value-Added Contributions, Substance.

Characteristics of a Top Professional:

  • Understands that careers evolve.
  • Prepares for the unexpected turns and benefit from them, rather than becoming the victim of them.
  • Realizes there are no quick fixes.
  • Finds a truthful blend of perception and reality… with sturdy emphasis upon substance, rather than style.
  • Has grown as a person and as a professional… and quests for more enlightenment.
  • Has succeeded and failed… and has learned from both.
  • Was a good ‘will be,’ taking enough time in early career years to steadily blossom… realizing that ‘fine wine’ status wouldn’t come quickly.
  • Has paid dues… and knows that, as the years go by, one’s dues paying accelerates, rather than decreases.

About the Author

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flameis now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.

The Big Picture of Business: Why a Company Would Improve? The Art of Learning From Failure to Get Better.

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Success is just in front of our faces. Yet, we often fail to see it coming. Too many companies live with their heads in the sand. Many go down into defeat because it was never on their radar to change.

A colleague recently complained about her corporation: “Things are much the same at this company, and I don’t see much changing unless leadership does.”

The answer is that companies need not roll over and accept less than the best. And yes, it takes courage to get management unstuck in their ways. Ninety-two (92) percent of all problems in organizations stem from poor management decisions.

The Biggest Mistakes Which Many of Us Have Made

Abilities, Talents

  • Making the same mistakes more than twice, without studying the mitigating factors.
  • Taking incidents out of context and mis-diagnosing situations.
  • Rationalizing occurrences, after the fact.
  • Appearing self-contained, therefore precluding others from wanting to help me.
  • Inability to cultivate other people’s support of me at the times that I needed it most.

Resources

  • Attempting projects without the proper resources to do the job well.
  • Not knowing people with sufficient pull and power. Thinking that friends would help introduce me or help network to key influentials.
  • Failure to effective networking techniques early enough in my career path.
  • Inability to finely develop the powers of people participating in the networking process.

Other People

  • Accepting people at their words without questioning.
  • Showing proper respect to other people and assuming that they would show or were capable of showing comparable respect to others.
  • Doing favors for others without asking anything in return… if I expected quid pro quo at a later time. Not telling people what I wanted and then being disappointed that they did not read minds or deliver favors of their own volition.
  • Befriending people who were too needy… always taking without offering to reciprocate. Continuing to feed their needs… a one-way relationship.
  • Picking the wrong causes to champion at the wrong times and with insufficient resources.
  • Working with the false assumption that people want and need comparable things. Incorrectly assuming that all would pursue their agendas fairly. A better understanding of personality types, human motivations and behavioral factors would have provided insight to handle situations on a customized basis.
  • Offering highly creative ideas and brain power to those who could not grasp their brilliance… especially to those who were fishing for free ideas they could then market as their own.

Circumstances Beyond Our Control

  • Working with equipment, resources and people from a source without my standards of quality control… trying to make the best of bad situations.
  • Changing trends, upon which I could not capitalize but which others could.

Mis-Calculations

  • Incorrectly estimating the time and resources necessary to do something well.
  • Getting blindsided because I did not do enough research.
  • Failure to plan sufficiently ahead, at the right times.
  • Setting sights too low. Not thinking big enough.

Timing

  • Offering advice before it was solicited.
  • Feeling pressured to offer solutions before diagnosing situations properly.
  • Not thinking of enough angles and possibilities… sooner.

Marketplace-External Factors

  • Not reading the opportunities soon enough.
  • Not being able to spot, create or capitalize upon emerging trends at their beginnings.

Stages of Mistakes

  1. Discovering errors (sensory-motor, sounds-language and logical selection).
  2. Recognizing mistakes.
  3. Separating successful elements from failures we do not need to duplicate.
  4. Learning from mistakes.
  5. Learning from success.
  6. Mentoring yourself and others toward a higher stream of knowledge.
  7. The wisdom that comes from making mistakes, comprehending their outcomes, and developing a knowledge base to achieve success.

Gradations of Failing

  1. Not seeing the warning signs.
  2. Distinguishing among friends, enemies and the majority group, those who could care less about you but who will tap whatever resources available to get their needs met.
  3. Never seeing victories as quite enough.
  4. Feeling that someone else – everyone else – wins when you fail.
  5. Repeating self-defeating behaviors.
  6. Holding unrealistic views.
  7. Thinking that you never fail… that failing is for other people and organizations.

Why We Must Fail… in Order to Succeed

Learning the stumbling blocks of failure prepares one to attain true success. Fear is the biggest contributor to failure, and it can be a motivator for success. You cannot make problems go away, simply by ignoring that they exist.

Everybody fails at things for which they are not suited. The process of learning what one is best suited to do is not a failure…it is a great success. Learn from the best and the worst. People who make the biggest bungling mistakes are showing you pitfalls to avoid.

Many of us make the same mistakes over and over again. That is to be expected and teaches us volumes, preparing us for success. There is no plan that is fool-proof. One plans, learns, reviews and plans further.

One learns three times more from failure than success. One learns three times more clearly when witnessing and analyzing the failures of others they know or have followed. History teaches us about cycles, trends, misapplications of resources, wrong approaches and vacuums of thought. People must apply history to their own lives-situations. If we document our own successes, then these case studies will make us more successful in the future.

Gradations of Learning from Mistakes

  1. Distance one’s self from one’s actions.
  2. Become self-critical.
  3. Recognize that actions have consequences.
  4. Begin accepting responsibility for the consequences.
  5. Learn how to eliminate errors.
  6. Learn how to learn from mistakes.
  7. Accept fallibility, become open to critical feedback and modify actions accordingly.

About the Author

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flameis now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.

StrategyDriven White Paper Advises Leaders on Preventing Catastrophic Industrial Accidents

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StrategyDriven’s Preventing Catastrophic Industrial Accidents reveals how high-risk industry leaders can reduce their significant event risk exposure through application of safety-first principles.
 
 
StrategyDriven Safety Culture Point of View DocumentStrategyDriven released Preventing Catastrophic Industrial Accidents, a white paper revealing how high-risk industry leaders can reduce their significant event risk exposure through the cost effective adaptation of key aspects of the U.S. nuclear industry’s safety-first principles.

After the several recent catastrophic industrial accidents within the United States, including the devastating explosions at a Texas fertilizer plant and Louisiana chemical plant, StrategyDriven wanted to help industrial and utility leaders reduce the risk of similar accidents at their facilities.

“Many of today’s significant industrial accidents are preventable, the byproduct of human errors made when safety was subordinated to other priorities,” explains Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “By fostering an organizational culture that puts safety-first, executives and managers create a workplace environment where errors are recognized and proactively corrected before they result in a material event.”

“An effective safety culture is far more than slogans and posters,” continues Greg Gaskey, StrategyDriven’s Chief Operations Officer. “It permeates the organization’s performance standards, operating processes, training programs, rewards systems, and, most importantly, the decisions and behaviors of everyone from the C-Suite to the shop floor.”

Nathan and Greg authored Preventing Catastrophic Industrial Accidents based on their decades of experience managing nuclear and industrial complex operations. Additionally, Nathan led the development of the nuclear industry’s operational risk management, high-risk decision management, and plant operations performance standards while working at the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations.

Highlights from Preventing Catastrophic Industrial Accidents include:

  • Safety Culture Attributes – safety focused executives, managers, and employees collectively assume responsibility for both their and their co-workers’ safety; embody a questioning attitude; encourage issue reporting and priority-based resolution; employ error reduction techniques; embed safety-first features within operational, training, and rewards programs; and embrace ongoing organizational learning
  • Identifying the Strength of Your Safety Culture – artifacts of the safety-first values are not only found in the outcomes achieved, but also reside in the organization’s goals and performance measures, standards and expectations, policies and procedures, rewards systems, training, and organizational learning and continuous improvement programs
  • Improving Your Safety Culture – individuals at all levels of the organization must be engaged in order to foster a robust safety culture; originating from executive defined attributes and goals and translated to the day-to-day decisions and actions of all employees

Preventing Catastrophic Industrial Accidents is being distributed to StrategyDriven’s clients, including some of the world’s largest utility operators. Download the white paper by clicking here.

About the Authors

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal, and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Greg Gaskey, StrategyDriven PrincipalGreg Gaskey is a StrategyDriven Principal with over twenty years of nuclear plant operations, maintenance, and large-scale program and project management experience. An experienced Operations Manager, he has managed critical Department of Defense programs, projects, and business lines; spanning multiple engineering maintenance disciplines including mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, and instrumentation and controls systems. To read Greg’s complete biography, click here.

StrategyDriven’s Online Advisory Forum – The Advisor’s Corner

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StrategyDriven's Online Advisory Forum - The Advisor's CornerAs a business leader, you face mission-critical challenges every day. Working through these important issues in a deliberate way increases your chances of making the right decisions.

So does having an experienced, outside perspective. To further aid you in your ongoing strategic planning and tactical business execution decisions, StrategyDriven is proud to host an online advisory forum, The Advisor’s Corner. This forum provides you an opportunity to pose questions anonymously and receive real-world insights from our experienced business advisors and community professionals. Questions and answers are published in The Advisor’s Corner for the benefit of all site visitors; providing an ever growing library of experiences for you to draw from.

Submit your questions to The Advisor’s Corner by email at: [email protected]. Let us know your question’s priority and response by date so we can reply in a timely manner. All questions submitted will remain anonymous to maintain confidentiality.

Want to learn more?

Click here to visit The Advisor’s Corner and learn from the many questions and answers already posted within this unique knowledge sharing forum!

The Big Picture of Business: Yesterdayism… Learning from the Past, Planning for the Future.

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Whether it is a public company or not, every business should fashion an Annual Report. Even if it is a client letter, this gesture celebrates the year, as basis for helping business people to prepare for the future.

People are interesting combinations of the old, the new, the tried and the true. Individuals and organizations are more resilient than they tend to believe. They’ve changed more than they wish to acknowledge. They embrace innovations, while keeping the best traditions.

When one reflects at changes, he/she sees directions for the future. Change is innovative. Customs come and go… some should pass and others might well have stayed with us.

There’s nothing more permanent than change. For everything that changes, many things stay the same. The quest of life is to interpret and adapt that mixture of the old and new. People who fight change have really changed more than they think.

The past is an excellent barometer for the future. I call that Yesterdayism. One can always learn from the past, dust it off and reapply it. Living in the past is not good, nor is living in the present without wisdom of the past.

Trends come and go… the latest is not necessarily the best. Some of the old ways really work better… and should not be dismissed just because they are old or some fashionable trend of the moment looks better.

When we see how far we have come, it gives further direction for the future. Ideas make the future happen. Technology is but one tool of the trade. Futurism is about people, ideas and societal evolution, not fads and gimmicks. The marketplace tells us what they want, if we listen carefully. We also have an obligation to give them what they need.

In olden times, people learned to improvise and ‘make do.’ In modern times of instantaneous disposability, we must remember the practicalities and flexibilities of the simple things and concepts.

Things which Made Comebacks…
Ceiling fans. The jitterbug and swing music. Hardwood floors. Stained glass.

Things the Economy Has Exempted…
Penny arcades. Five-and-dime stores. Full-service gas stations. Free car washes at gas stations. Towels in boxes of detergent. Mom-and-pop stores. S&H Green Stamps and other redemption programs.

Things which the Marketplace Has Eclipsed…

  • Ice delivered in blocks via a horse-driven carriage by the ice man
  • Milk delivered in bottles via a horse-driven carriage by the milk man
  • Going downtown to do all of your shopping
  • Drive-in movies
  • Stores closed on Sundays

The Old Became the New Again…
The original speed for phonograph records, as invented in 1888, was 78-RPM, which engineers determined to be the most ideal for sound quality. In the 1940s, technology brought us the 45-RPM and 33-1/3-RPM records… adding up to the “mother speed” of 78-RPM. The 1980s brought us compact discs, which play at a speed of 78-RPM.

Station wagons of the 1950s went out of style. They came back in the 1980s as sport utility vehicles.

Midwives were widely utilized in previous centuries. In modern times, alternative health care concepts and practitioners have been embraced by all sectors of society. Herbal ingredients and home remedies have gained popularity, and cottage industries support them.

Telephone party lines went out of style in the 1920s. They came back in the 1990s as internet chat rooms.

Corporations have become extended families, thus embracing dysfunctionality, changes, modifications and learning curves.

Schools started out as full-scope community centers. As the years passed, academic programs grew and became more specialized, covering many vital subject areas. Today, with parents and communities severely neglecting children and their life-skills education, schools have evolved back to being full-scope community centers.

7 Levels of Yesterdayism… Learning from the Past… Sources of Insights:

  1. Think They’ve Been There… Haven’t Yet Fully Learned from It.
  2. Saw It Happen… Understand It.
  3. Participated In It.
  4. Been There… Learned from It.
  5. Teach, Understand and Interpret It.
  6. Innovated It… and Teach You Why.
  7. Innovative Then and Now… Still Creating.

7 Applications for Yesterdayism… How to Shape the Past Into the Future:

  1. Re-Reading…Reviewing… Finding New Nuggets in Old Files.
  2. Applying Pop Culture to Today.
  3. Review case studies and their patterns for repeating themselves.
  4. Discern the differences between trends and fads.
  5. Learn from successes… and three times more from failures.
  6. Transition your organization from information down the branches to knowledge.
  7. Apply thinking processes to be truly innovative.

Apply History to Yourself. The past repeats itself. History is not something boring that you once studied in school. It tracks both vision and blindspots for human beings. History can be a wise mentor and help you to avoid making critical mistakes.

7 Kinds of Reunions… obtaining perspective:

  1. Pleasurable. Seeing an old friend who has done well, moved in a new direction and is genuinely happy to see you too. These include chance meetings, reasons to reconnect and a concerted effort by one party to stay in the loop.
  2. Painful. Talking to someone who has not moved forward. It’s like the conversation you had with them 15 years ago simply resumed. They talk only about past matters and don’t want to hear what you’re doing now. These include people with whom you once worked, old romances, former neighbors, networkers who keep turning up like bad pennies and colleagues from another day and time.
  3. Mandated. Meetings, receptions, etc. Sometimes, they’re pleasurable, such as retirement parties, open houses, community service functions. Other times, they’re painful, such as funerals or attending a bankruptcy creditors’ meeting.
  4. Instructional. See what has progressed and who have changed. Hear the success stories. High school reunions fit into this category…their value depending upon the mindset you take with you to the occasion.
  5. Reflect Upon the Past. Reconnecting with old friends, former colleagues and citizens for whom you have great respect. This is an excellent way to share each other’s progress and give understanding for courses of choice.
  6. Benchmarking. Good opportunities to compare successes, case studies, methodologies, learning curves and insights. When “the best” connects with “the best,” this is highly energizing.
  7. Goal Inspiring. The synergy of your present and theirs inspires the future. Good thinkers are rare…stay in contact with those whom you know, admire and respect. It will benefit all involved.

About the Author

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flameis now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.